What it actually takes to re-roof a house in Imperial — whether the county wants a permit, which code edition applies, who to call at the building department, and how old the housing here really is. No sales copy dressed up as local knowledge.
Imperial runs to about 6.03 square miles and roughly 4,407 people. It sits about 20 miles south of downtown St. Louis. There are around 1,817 housing units here, and every one of them has a roof with a clock on it. We cover ZIP code 63052.
We have not logged a completed roof in Imperial yet. We would rather say so than put a number on this page that is not real.
The typical home in Imperial dates to around the early-1990s. A house of that vintage has usually been through two roofs, and the one on it now is often the second — which means it is old enough to be checked rather than assumed.
No richer construction-era sourcing (e.g. a dominant subdivision boom or historic core) was found.
Imperial CDP was originally known as West Kimmswick and today surrounds (but does not include) the separately incorporated city of Kimmswick; its eastern edge is the Mississippi River / Illinois state line.
Housing from this stretch in Imperial sits on plywood or OSB decking and was largely first roofed with three-tab shingles. Most are on their second covering by now. The things worth checking are the penetrations rather than the field: pipe boots from this era are the single most common leak we trace, because the rubber collar splits long before the shingles wear out. Ridge venting was inconsistent through these years, and OSB that has been damp for a season goes soft in a way plywood does not — you find it with your feet, not from the ground.
Jefferson County's codified amendments to the 2015 IRC add to the R105.2 work-exemption list: 'Single family residential roof replacement, replacement roofing that involves the shingles, the underlayment and/or the sheathed decks.' A single-family re-roof in unincorporated Jefferson County — including Imperial — is expressly exempt from the building permit requirement, even where the sheathing is replaced.
Imperial enforces the 2015 IRC. Jefferson County Code Chapter 500, Article III, Section 500.400 adopts the International Residential Code, 2015 Edition, with amendments. Most recent amending ordinance located: Ordinance No. 23-0465, effective 11-16-2023.
The department's own number was not retrievable from an official source when this page was built, so we are not printing one. Imperial does not publish the building official's name, so this page does not name one. Plenty of sites will show you one anyway. The department page is here.
Permitting is on us, not on you.
Unlike some states, Missouri does not assign each municipality its own wind and snow numbers — these are metro-wide.
| Criterion | Figure | What it drives |
|---|---|---|
| Ultimate design wind (Vult) | 115 mph | Fastener schedule and the manufacturer wind rating we specify |
| Nominal design wind (Vasd) | 89 mph (derived, not published locally) | The allowable-stress figure older specs quote |
| Ground snow load | 20 psf | Structure, and how much the eaves hold in a freeze-thaw |
| Frost depth | 30 in | Footings, not roof covering |
| Seismic design category | C residential / D commercial | Lateral bracing and structural connections — not shingles |
What each of these actually does to a roof, why New Madrid does not change how shingles go on, and the difference between the code minimum and the manufacturer minimum on nails per shingle, are all in the St. Louis roofing code guide.
Imperial borders Arnold, Barnhart and Kimmswick. These are the ones we also cover, each with its own permit rule and code edition:
Elsewhere in Jefferson County we also cover:
Missouri sets none of this at state level, so a specification that was right one municipality over is not automatically right here.
| City | Permit for a re-roof | Adopted code | Building dept. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arnold | Not published | 2021 IRC | 636-282-2378 |
| Festus | Not published | Not published | 636-937-6646 |
Free inspection, a written scope, and photos you keep either way.
Jefferson County's codified amendments to the 2015 IRC add to the R105.2 work-exemption list: 'Single family residential roof replacement, replacement roofing that involves the shingles, the underlayment and/or the sheathed decks.' A single-family re-roof in unincorporated Jefferson County — including Imperial — is expressly exempt from the building permit requirement, even where the sheathing is replaced.
Imperial enforces the 2015 IRC. Jefferson County Code Chapter 500, Article III, Section 500.400 adopts the International Residential Code, 2015 Edition, with amendments. Most recent amending ordinance located: Ordinance No. 23-0465, effective 11-16-2023.
The typical home in Imperial dates to around the early-1990s, so most roofs here are on their second or third covering rather than their first. That figure is an ACS-derived median republished by housing-data services, not a survey of individual roofs.
Not yet. We have no completed roof logged in Imperial, and we would rather say so than put a number on this page that is not real.
Missouri has no state-level roofing contractor licence. Licensing and registration are imposed municipally, and several St. Louis metro cities require it. Illinois does licence roofers statewide, so a contractor working the Metro East needs an IDFPR roofing licence.
Permit and code details for Imperial come from the jurisdiction's own published pages and codified ordinances. Population, housing and neighbourhood detail come from census data and the sources below; housing-age figures are ACS-derived medians republished by housing-data services, so treat them as approximate. Sources: ecode360.com · ecode360.com · www.jeffcomo.gov · www.jeffcomo.gov · en.wikipedia.org · www.bestplaces.net. Municipal staffing, phone numbers and adopted code editions change — confirm with the jurisdiction before relying on anything here.